JCPenney Redesigned Its Logo So Many Times Nearly Half Of America No Longer Recognizes It

JCPenney is attempting
to recover from the damaging strategies it took on during
ex-CEO Ron
Johnson's tenure. Its logo is one of its main concerns, with
branding surveys showing JCP logo awareness dropped as much as 28
percentage points from 2010 and 2012.

In JCPenney's recent
apology ad, it begged customers to "come back" to the
retailer. It also featured a redesigned logo, one that used the
company's whole name rather than the hip 'jcp' design
taken on last year.

According to E-Poll Market Research, a
trend-oriented market researcher, every redesign of the JCPenney
logo since 2010 has hurt consumer awareness of the brand:

In April of 2010, JCPenney's
classic logo was recognizable by 84% of those surveyed. Following
a 2011 redesign, awareness dropped to 76%.

And following the radical 2012 redesign, awareness dropped to a
measly 56%.

The shift back to the old logo in the apology ad is another
signal that JCPenney is looking for a major upheaval of its
brand. Ron Johnson-era policies have all but brought the brand to
its knees—and
top-level execs and market researchers alike agree that new
strategies are needed all around.